My last snowy post!

Here is my last post involving snow and ice for many months, my apologies on its tardiness, I’m on island time now!


Here I am on Krash’s back porch ready for a fun, slippery ride one cold night back in late December. Yep, that’s me, my bike and lots of snow encrusting my tires. yummy! The riding that night was mostly fun, except when there was a car on your ass on a narrowly plowed road with thoughts of getting run-overed trumping simple thoughts like just falling down. Away from the fright of immediate death due to cars and trucks on the slick streets, riding was actually a lot of fun, especially on a brakeless fixie. Fun indeed.


Riding in the middle of a massive snowstorm does have its advantages…like instant bike racks everywhere, just dismount your bike and put it in the deep snow! Krash and I chillin’ on the Founders Bridge a few minutes after midnight. I don’t think we were even that cold.


The view of the Connecticut River and its ice flows was absolutely beautiful. Traveling and exploring in a winter wonderland, whether high in the mountains of the backcountry or on the streets of the ‘beat, is always rewarding with fine views and excellent company.

Thank you Ken for all of our midnight rides and end of night sprints from Kenny’s to Columbia Street! Always a great time dude! Peace! Read more!

In Which I Continue to Hammer Away at a Point: Courant Editorial on Transit Spending

The Courant says Congress should spend more on alternatives to automobile transportation, like sea turtles (above).

This morning I rose at an ungodly hour (or, more precisely, I was rousted from bed by a two- and a four-year-old, both of whom are terrorists) and went to the grocery store as soon as it opened (7:00 a.m.). And you know what? It was really really cold out (13 degrees, according to the car's thermometer), and I did not feel bad that I was not riding my bicycle to the store. In fact, it's almost cold enough (almost!) that I would pass up the chance for a bike ride generally (the need to carry groceries and children necessitated the car this time around). Why do I tell you this, dear reader? Because I've been riding a little less lately, and that may explain why all my posts focus on news about mass transit.

Anyway, the Courant has a good editorial today, in which it points out that the coming recovery package should spend more on mass transit and not so much on building new roads. It urges the Connecticut congressional delegation to press for money to complete the New Haven-Springfield commuter line and the Hard Hittin' New Britain Busway (no mention of the BeatWater Commuterama train, but whatevs). My only hope is that the stern remonstrance of a foundering newspaper in an impoverished city will be enough to force the hand of Congress. Read more!

CRCOG, Grrrrr!

Above: The proposed Hard-Hittin' New Britain Busway.

Damn it, Capitol [sic] Region Coalition Of Governments! I want to hate you because your name misspells Capital and you never responded to my (very polite) e-mail about that matter, but I find I have no choice but to love you because you are so sensible!

Case in point, your Exexutive Executive* Director, Lyle "Fay" Wray, has a lovely op-ed piece in the Courant today about New Haven-Springfield commuter service and the (Hard Hittin') New Britain Busway. Wray points out that the existence of one big mass transit project doesn't mean others should wait in line, tacitly responding to recent comments by DOT Commissioner Joseph "Sault Sainte" Marie, who was cool to the BeatWater Commuterama train (Hartford to Waterbury) because the Springfield-New Haven line and the busway are in the pipe. Although he favors the busway over the BeatWater train, Wray rightly points out that all these projects serve different needs and will benefit the region in different ways (he enumerates these in the op-ed piece, but leaves out the fact that commuter rail service along the I-91 corridor could greatly reduce the incidence of agency commissioners picking up DUIs).

So good work, Sugar Wray. Now can we please talk about the Capitol/Capital distinction?

* Just as I was grousing about the misspelling in CRCOG's name, I included a misspelling (or, really, a typo - they are not the same thing) in referring to its chief. A commenter took me to task (gently) and I corrected it, but in the interest of transparency, I am making my earlier error manifest. Read more!

Heat Wave!!

Ok so maybe its not really a heat wave but compared to the last few weeks its feels almost tropical outside. Not much else of consequence in this post but I just want to say I hope everyone is taking advantage of the brief thaw to get out on your bikes. If the last few weeks of arctic temperatures were enough to keep you indoors or encased in steel on your commute to work, school, etc., today is the perfect day to get back out on your two-wheeled steeds and get the blood flowing again. It'll be nice to head out and not have to wear bulky (although pretty sweet) mittens, a facemask, and tights under my pants just to keep from going hypothermic. Might even be a nice night for an impromptu bike pub tour. Long story short, if you didn't plan on riding today, do so, as weather like this must be appreciated in January. Read more!

Bikes on Planes

First, I have to apologize not getting any pics of my fixie up on the blog. It is running great. I love the performance in snow, I love the elegant look, the quiet ride, and I love the durability. I am now shopping for digital cameras, so I hope to share pictures soon.

I have two work-related trips to South Carolina coming up, and I want to have my bicycle down there to get around. For the March trip, I've decided to load up my recently purchased (1974 good condition) slide-in truck camper (six pack heaven!) and trundle down to Myrtle Beach with my bicycle inside. For my February trip, I can't avoid the more boring option of flying down and staying in a hotel.

Question: How feasible is it to take my bike apart, put it in a bike box from a bike shop, check it as luggage, reassemble in the airport, and merrily ride away? Has anyone ever done this? Short of stealing El Prez's hard-earned Xootr Swift, what are my options?

Please use the comments section to share experience traveling with a bicycle. Read more!

Train Service to the Dirty Water? Yes Please!

Yesterday, a couple of Connecticut lawmakers said there should be commuter rail service between Hartford and Waterbury. Could I agree with them more? The answer is no. It's not that I love visiting the Dirty Water so much (I don't), or that I am frequently flummoxed by congestion on I-84 west of Hartford (I am not), but what I do love is having a rail connection to other parts of the state that is not in the avaricious grasp of Amtrak. If there were a train to Waterbury, you could go there and take Metro North to Bridgeport or New York or anywhere else on the shore, which would advance immeasurably the cause of freedom.

Naturally, the first response from the Commissioner of the State Transportation Department was to urge patience, caution, and other behaviors of dubious usefulness. He says we're already working on a New Haven-Springfield commuter rail link and the Hartford-New Britain busway, so we can't go crazy with this BeatWater project. (Because the last thing we want is adequte public transportation all over the state, all at once!) Of course, in real life we're not "working on" the New Haven-Springfield thing so much as we're deadlocked with stupid Amtrak over the use of its rails. So what the Commissioner should do is go to Amtrak, grab them by their fat heads, and say, "If you don't make me an offer I like on the use of your stupid rails, I will deal with some freight company, create a link to Waterbury, and steal away from you all of your coveted business between Hartford and New York!" That would be the way to show them what's up. (Except it wouldn't work at all because they're clearly not motivated by good sense or profit, so maybe he should tell the folks at Amtrak that they should help the Springfield-New Haven project go forward because it will help them be better at volleyball.)

I guess what I am saying is that any project that connects Hartford to the world via public transportation and simultaneously connects Amtrak to fuck you via deez nuts is OK in my book. Call your legislator or your governor or Santa Claus and tell them you support the BeatWater Commuterama.

ALSO
So, after writing this post, I read Rick Green's column, in which he says that the Commissioner of DOT, Joseph Marie, is a super-champion of rail transportation and bike-friendliness and helping old ladies cross the street. So maybe I should give him the benefit of the doubt and suppose there's a good reason he's so cool to the BeatWater Commuterama. I mean, is there a good reason to oppose the project? I (foolishly) looked at the comments on the Courant's website, and the posters who oppose the project don't offer much that's coherent (awesomest nonsensical argument: the commuter line would only be used by unemployed people anyway, so let's not build it). What do you say, dear readers? Read more!

In Which Your Humble Correspondent Falls on the Ice

I don't mind ice and snow, really. I am tough and hearty and young, and laugh at danger and adversity, so things that cause me discomfort are useful for the reinforcement of my self image. To that end, I endeavored yesterday to ride my Xootr from New Haven to Milford. Not only did I endeavor, but I was, in fact, successful, and realized the feat in a suit, arriving to a morning meeting on time and looking dapper. Unfortunately, this otherwise perfect inauguration day sojourn was marred by the inconsiderate behavior of a motorist. I was next to said horseless-carriage operator at the corner of Bridgeport Avenue and Schoolhouse Road, waiting on a red light. The vehicle to my left, a gold-colored SUV of some sort, did not have its turn indicator light illuminated, leading me to believe that the operator's intention was to proceed straight in a westerly direction. In fact, when the light turned green, the operator executed a right turn across my path, causing me to apply my brakes with improvident force, which, in turn, resulted in my falling upon the ice, cursing extensively, and shaking my fist (really! just like in silent movies when something bad happens to someone hapless) at the oblivious driver.

What is the moral of this story? On the one hand, studded tires might have helped. On the other hand, when we blame the bicyclist for the failures of the motorist, the terrorists win. So I don't know that there is a moral, aside from that it is always a good idea to check your mirrors before turning your automobile, even when you are in the right lane on Route 1 at 8:00 a.m. on a day too cold for any sensible person to be astride his bicycle.

Also, bike tires going through a thin layer of light snow make a cool sound which reminds me of the sound my feet make in the firmly packed, semi-damp sand of certain Oregon beaches. If you have an opportunity to hear this sound, either by strolling along the Oregon coast or biking in light snow on a cold morning, I strongly recommend you take it. Just watch out for turning SUVs. (Below, thanks to the magic of MS Paint, I have created a handy illustration to help you understand the bike-tires-in-snow / bare-feet-in-sand similarity. I do this as a service to those of our readers who are visual learners, and also because I like blog posts better when they are accompanied by a photograph.)

Read more!

This Great Nation of Ours; Concerning my Recent Travels Therein

As we approach the historic inauguration of our nation's 44th white president, the populace is feeling a great absence, a great need for enlightenment though reasoned discourse. I refer, of course, to my own recent absence from the blog-o-dome (not to be confused with the Blago-dome). Since the last week in December, I've been all over the damn place, with a weekend in New York (blissfully sans children), a couple of weekends in Boston (less-blissfully avec in-laws) and a marvelous week of vacation in San Francisco and Berkeley, where people are so civilized and sensible that they don't allow the temperature to get below 40 degrees fahrenheit.

Happily, I was able to bring the ol' Xootr to Boston and get in some quality blizzard riding, but there was no possibility of bringing it to the Bay Area (two kids + two adults = two suitcases and carry-ons, so no extra hardshelled bike suitcase). That said, being in San Francisco was eye-opening for me: Cities really can be totally bike-friendly! Really, it's more than that: We were walking through Golden Gate Park and came upon a municipal frisbee golf course (for real!), and I had an epiphany about how local government operates in east coast cities and how it operates in S.F. Over here, even the most progressive, forward-looking government initiatives come about only because of a well-organized campaign by some subset of the population. There is nothing wrong with this - it's democracy in action - but it establishes a certain limit: governments don't go looking for cool shit to do because they can; they aim to please political groups with influence (except Luis Cotto - that guy is hardwired for awesomeness and you should vote for him in the Advocate's Best of Hartford poll as best politician). But I'm pretty confident that even in uber-nerdy San Fran, the frisbee golfers don't have much juice in the corridors of power. I think someone in their Parks and Recreation department just said, "Hey, I have seen the dot-communists playing this game. Let's make a course for it, but we'll call it 'Disc Golf' to avoid trademark issues." That's because their government just does good stuff. Case in point (to return from a lengthy digression): bike-friendliness. Everywhere there are bike lanes. In Berkeley, they even have "Bike Boulevards" (pictured above), which are streets that run parallel to main drags where bike may take the whole lane and are generally favored over cars (sort of like those weird West Hartford power-up things, except for real). People bring bikes on the BART (which is the bay area way of saying "subway") all the time, to the point where the emergency evacuation instructions remind people to leave their bikes behind in case of train evacuation (unless, presumably, your bike is one of these). I noticed cares yielding to bikes in a manner I found downright stunning - they were actually, truly cautious and deferential. Anyway, I wish I woulda had my bike there, but having my wife and kids there instead was a fair trade-off. Here are some photos from my recent meanderings:


If I lived on the hill my sister-in-law lives on in S.F., I would be the strongest bike rider in the whole world.


A bike boulevard in Berkeley.


This ain't no Bay Area! It's bike-friendly Cambridge, Mass., which is like Berkeley with snow and funny accents.


Bike parking at the North Berkeley BART station. Click for larger image. Read more!

Cold

It's cold and not fun to ride a bike today.

So, try this instead: http://www.cbc.ca/kids/games/bmxpark/. My high score is 86467 94653 101582, which apparently is not very good.
Read more!

The John Boehner Tonic

I wonder if he rides the "Portland" so he can always be representing his district.


After Sunday's ire-inducing Face the Nation interview with John Boehner and the ire still smoldering with Will's post yesterday, I thought it'd be nice to post a link to an article in today's Times about Earl Blumenauer. It's repleat with such feel good quotes as this one from former Republican Rep. Sherwood Boehlert: "Bicycling unites people regardless of party affiliation". It's nice to think that Rep. Blumenauer is in the majority at this point while we're at the brink of a giant pork-barrel spending bill.

ed. note: Why do all these bike proponents and opponents have e's place in funny spots all over their last names?
2nd ed. note: I'm sure we're all also sad that Rep. Blumenauer didn't become Secretary of Transportation.

---

Also, how come bike tires wear out after 3,000-5,000 miles while car tires go for 30,000-50,000? Bike tires are not 1/10 the price of car tires. This seems unfair.
Read more!

bike paths are a waste of money and shouldn't be part of an economic stimulus

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) was on Face the Nation Sunday morning and had some thoughts about the need to quickly pass a "responsible" stimulus plan. Here's a link to a story on the TheHill.com

“I think there’s a place for infrastructure, but what kind of infrastructure? Infrastructure to widen highways, to ease congestion for American families? Is it to build some buildings that are necessary?” He stated. “But if we’re talking about beautification projects, or we’re talking about bike paths, Americans are not going to look very kindly on this.”

I am an American and i am not looking kindly on the idea of widening highways during oil wars and impending depression while also disregarding bicycles as transportation. The irony is killing me. Its it that crazy of an idea to the federal powers that bicycles are freakin' transportation?!?! Widening highways would cause more problems than it would solve and eventually that solved problem will only be the same problem but bigger and wider!

and here's another similar situation, check out this post on bicyclespokesman.com about a bike path near Washington DC that is not being built, but a 6 lane highway will be built!

Anyways, shoupy gave me a heads up in this along with with Rep. Boehner's contact info.

We wrote him, you should to! Post a copy of your letters in the comments.

ps. By the way, "...widen highways, to ease congestion for American families?" What the hell is that supposed to mean? I didn't watch the news last night, or the night before, but did I miss some big story about the new biggest threat to our family life as we know it like: Millions of American families suffer congestion due to skinny highways...film at 11.

pps...don't read more....WRITE MORE! give 'em a piece of your mind!

. Read more!

Critical Mass. Hartford, Dec 2008. The Holiday Ride!

LL Cool J said it best....I can't live without my radio!

Well, better late than never! Friday night...a few weeks back...was awesome! We had a real winter Critical Mass ride complete with lights, decorations and holiday music. It was great to see so many familiar faces as well as some new blood out to ride around the city. The weather may have been cold, but the ride was hot! Lots of people decorated their bikes with colorful lights, glow sticks and light-up santas. I am sure it was the largest ride yet in the winter months. There was a UConn game at the Civic Center (yes, i still call it that) and of course all the traffic that goes with it.

The boombox was blasting mostly punk and reggae covers of Christmas music. I found a few Chanukah and Kwanzaa songs on itunes and threw in the Ramones' version of "its a Wonderful World" just to round things out. Many people cheered, smiled and laughed as we did laps through the area.

We also rode to Constitution Plaza and around the decorative lights and Christmas trees up there. And all got separated for a while when leaving, until reuniting and enjoying more of the crowded downtown streets.

Eventually we headed down Asylum Avenue towards West Hartford and made it to Woodland Street when we found out someone needed a chaintool back at Bushnell Park. In the holiday spirit the whole ride made a 180 and sped back to save the day. We did several more loops around the Civic Center while repairs were made. Ya know... i might have some chronology wrong here; but just the same, it was a wonderful ride. Everyone was super friendly, sharing tools and libations and ideas for next year's ride. Thank you to everyone to braved the cold and helped make Hartford a brighter place! Wooo-haaaa!


Marylynn is always dressed for the occasion!


Chris laughed in the face of death with his lights. and looked cool doing it!


Coreylynn was rocking two peace signs radiating good vibes in all four directions.

What happened next? What bar did we go to? Want to see the neked group shot?

click READ MORE!






Did i say neked? I meant natural light...I didn't use my flash! Sorry for any confusion.

We decided to ride to the Spigot and took the scenic route on Park Street for most of the way.


Brendan, is that your cable looking up my boom box along with the bikes? Thanks dude, good looking out!

And more photos here from Caresse!



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Cool stuff for the weekend

Cat!

This isn't a bike thing, but not everything has to be a bike thing. Well, I guess this could be a bike thing could be because these Joe and Joel ride their bikes to their studio, anyway...

This is a reminder and invitation to the first monthly (Dodec-Ennial)
CATALOGUE show at:

56 Arbor Street
Hartford, Connecticut 06106
Suite 216 (second floor)

When: Saturday, January 10, 2009 from 6pm-9pm

Jamie Horgan, the until-recently-Hartford-Art-

Star-turned-Boston-Art-Star,
will be showing a few of his recent and on-going drawings for our January
installment. CATALOGUE will take place each month, showcasing an
individual, a collaboration, an instillation, and/or funny joke, and is
hosted by Joel VanderKamp and Joe Saphire.

The studio is located at the front of the building (Real Art Ways is in
back). If you need directions or have questions, please contact:

Joe: saphire.j@k-o.org 860.216.3826
Joel: joel_vanderkamp@yahoo.com 773.259.2669

Please pass this invitation to those who might be interested and we might
have missed.

Joe Saphire
Joel VanderKamp

Gadabout Sam Mckinniss writes more eloquently about it on his blog.

--

Also, anyone want to go mountain biking with me this weekend?

Read more!

Vote for us

The best around!

Just a little plug here.

The 2009 Advocate Readers' Poll is online. If you have a minute, vote for us for best blog. It's under "See & Be Scene". Read more!

Rocking the Lobstah'

When the colonials came to this country they found lobsters up to six feet tall!

So as with most things when I think about purchasing new things I try to minimize my environmental impact. This results in buying less and buying things that are supremely functional and encourage good behaviors. This usually means that I have exponentially less issue buying things for bike commuting that have the potential to make my rides more comfortable, or less likely to be derailed by inclement weather. Such it was as the temperature started to drop as we inched into the depths of winter through December. As I found my fingers starting to get wicked cold I searched out new gloves. I tried my ski gloves but these were bulky and awkward on the bike and made riding quite uncomfortable. They also were not as warm as I had hoped as the windchill really started to show itself above about 15mph. I thought about mittens as I prefer them to gloves for their absolute warmth and comfy feel, however they would reduce my ability to operate the brakes which I consider an important aspect of stopping on the geared bicycle I use for commuting (as can be found here).

After this I remembered seeing some sweet lobster gloves designed for riding made by Pearl Izumi....

These gloves balance the functionality of gloves and the warmth of mittens. They are wind and waterproof and they also have nice reflective piping and a super soft snot spot on both thumbs which is a nice feature for cleaning up after the inevitable cold weather snot rockets. I bought them and so far i'm enjoying them. They are perfectly warm below about 25 degrees where is around where my other gloves start to get chilly. On the downside the cuffs are on the tight side so they don't ventilate well when its warmer so in some occasions my hands really overheat. I'm thinking about modifying them by surgically removing some of the elastic around the wrists but don't want to wreck them.

I think having warm hands has to be the most important part of winter commuting. Ears would have to be second, but numb ears have little to do with steering and braking the bicycle (at least personally) plus they make your hands look like ninja turtle digits, cowabunga! I think these glove mittens (glittens perhaps) are a justified purchase. So with that said how are all you winter commuters making out so far and what have you added to your gear closet to make your rides easier? Hasn't been too mean of a winter but its always a challenge to head out and ride when its nasty out.

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When is it not worth it?

I would definitely stop riding if I had to ride this thing.

The venerable Bikesnob NYC once queried about what would make a cyclist stop riding. He mostly wrote about what sorts of absurd bikes or outfits would stop you from riding. There are some doozies in there, but he doesn't write about the biggest riding-preventer out there: the weather.

Here is some bad Canadian weather.

It's really, really gross today. It iced all night and now it's raining. As I passed the Institute of Living, a place for reflection, I wondered what the hell I was doing. It was wet and gross and I was riding to work. I like my job ok, but it's still a job. And there was I, plodding along on the sidewalk in ice and slush looking like a fool. Why I was I putting myself through this? This begs the question: when is it too gross to ride a bike and when is a destination not worth a gross bike ride? Read more!

The New Year, Part 2

My posts are generally narcissistic, like yesterday's. I was gonna do that again today and write about the ride I took last night. But, in a moment of clarity, I remembered that this blog isn't just about me. Hell, there are a bunch of other bloggers who write way more interesting and funny than me all the time. Instead, I thought about the direction of the beat bike blog as it enters a new year. Our founder and most chillest blogger, Will, has left for beautiful environs of Key West. Does that leave us without keel for '09? Probably. So, what now? In 2008, we wrote about a bunch of stuff, but also did some stuff, including, but not limited to:

• 2 races
• cleaning up the river
• making critical mass a more viable thing in Hartford
• making critical mass not a nasty and contentious thing like it is in most other cities
• garnering press support (???)
  
• some other stuff that I'm probably forgetting
  

What should 2009 be about? Loyal reader(s), please tell us. Should we put together some more Hartford races? I'm definitely going to work on the 'cross race, but that's more a CCBA thing. Should we do something to promote more bike commuting? Should we raise money for a bike related cause? Should we start a trips for kids mountain biking program? Should we do something to get more youth involved with the whole riding a bike thing? Should we do none of that and reform are image into something cooler and angrier?

We're adrift! Please help!
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The New Year

I hate that Death Cab for Cutie song called "The New Year".

So, we're deep into 2009 and there hasn't been a post yet, so I guess I'll put something up. I haven't been doing much bike related lately. I put some studded Nokians on my Stumpjumper and rode it around in the snow some. The tires actually work pretty well on snowy things, though it seems that you can't ride in snow that's deeper than like 4" or 5". That seems pretty acceptable, though. The bike has rim brakes and they're pretty unacceptable in the snow.

I also have two bicycle related resolutions, or maybe they're goals.

1) Ride the D2R2.
I know that randoneuring is usually for people with helmet mirrors, but it also seems really difficult. So, I'm going to do the 108 mile edition of the D2R2.

2) Make a 'cross race happen in Hartford.
I put the bug in Ben Bare's ear for him to bring it up at the last Bike Everywhere and Jay and some others seem genuiely interested. I hope for Keney park, but most other people seem to want to do it at Riverside Park. Doesn't really matter to me as long as it happens.

Woodsy!

Anybody else got cool ideas and plans for 2009? Read more!

Bikes = Art

We all think bikes are pretty - that's why we're bike nerds. But now we can emerge from the shame and shadows of bike fetishization and bask in the glorious light of mainstream acceptance. How do I know? Because I finally went to the Museum of Modern Art in New York (I hadn't been since before the renovation, since back when I lived in Brooklyn a thousand years ago), and there, among leather couches shaped like decapitated cows and chaise longues made of cardboard, was Puma's folding bike. (There's my snap of the bike above, folded up and locked at MOMA. Incidentally, the bike rack it's locked to is also an item on exhibit.) You know what this proves? That when you see me riding around on my Xootr and think, "Ha ha, look at that herb on his funny clown bicycle!" you are being a philistine, and should be saying, "Dag. That guy is so modern."

Also, unrelatedly, but while I am on the topic (sort of) of pictures I have taken, I just got around to stitching together a pair of panoramas I took on a couple of Bridgeport-New Haven rides. I think they came out kinda nice, so you should look at them. Here are links:

An abandoned theater in West Haven.

Long Island Sound, seen from Milford, I think, or maybe West Haven. Read more!

Critical Mass Hartford this Friday! The Holiday Ride...

carol's sweeeeet flyer...thank you!!!!!!

Come burn off all that yummy food you ate the last two days! Hartford's wintertime critical mass rides are usually as sparse as the leaves on trees; but lets change that and light up the town and spread some holiday cheer!Light up your bikes! Bring extra bells. Decorate! Make it happen!

This could be the beginning of a new tradition in Hartford....decorating your bikes for the December ride. People might start traveling to the 'beat to take part in the ride, pedaling in from around the globe!

Walgreens has LED lights than run on AA batteries, 15 to a strand, for $3.99, sometimes 3 for $10. Hook it up! Beware, many of the sets with white lights have runts, so bring two AA batteries to test before buying! The multi-color lights are all good! Here's a photo of the box i found on the interwebs. These lights kick ass!

glow sticks, bells, garland, tinsel, wrapping paper, other lights, its all good! Read more!

BBB Pub Crawl II: Repeal Day

Friday, December 5th marked the 75th anniversary of the ratification of the glorious 21st amendment to the US Constitution, and an end to 24 years of prohibition! And we celebrated! Many weeks ago our loyal reader(s) read Rich's original call to action! Well, we acted, and drank that action well!


I rode up to the rear of the spigot and found a dozen bikes locked and chained in all sorts of various configurations. Some looked familiar and i looked forward to seeing friends as well as finding out who the new bicycles belonged to. It was super wonderful to see a bunch of friends after being away for almost two months.


Rich gave a passionate sermon extolling the wonderful virtues of the 21st amendment. His hand gesturing was so full of energy his right arm is captured only as a blur, speedy beyond the realm of digital photography. We reveled, we gave thanks, we stayed late past the schedule and enjoyed the breaking of such earthly rules.


Mere glass cannot stop the energy flow of BBB dap, especially if involving Rich and a liter of beer and el Presidente de China. I believe I once got a text from Lucas proclaiming vegas as "the place where wasted happens!" Yep, pretty much. Two Fridays ago i stayed for two rounds of the special, a liter of any draft and any shot for $10. Dang. But as usual, a good time was had. More amazing photos after the jump including Joel working the stripper pole at Mad Dawg's!




Is Rick doing an anti-flat ritual of some kind as Rich double fists multiple liters of beer and Julia laughs nervously and protects her pizza.


el Prez pimpin' on my old Mercier. Well done!


As promised, Joel working it for Kristen and looking quite sexy!


A few went to Sully's, the most at the Spigot, half made it to Mad Dawgs and a few to the Red Rock. A great night and a hell of a way to return to Hartford! Read more!

biker bars in san fran

I was lucky enough to be able to visit a few friends in Oakland and San Francisco last month and get some good drinking done. Two of the great bars we went to had bicycle parking. Both also had German names. hmmm..... I thought i should share them here, if you are ever in the Mission area, check them out!

The Gestalt Haus in the Mission.....one liter mugs of local brews and indoor bike parking!!!

This spot was the west coast version of Vegas Blvd with liters of beer and a pool table; but Gestalt also has indoor, double decker bicycle parking. sweeeet! The friday night we went was super crowded, but friendly and lots of fun. Lots of great beers and liters, sweet, heavy, never ending liters of frothy goodness.


a sexy shot of the rack and derrick's right side

Zeitgeist and part of thier MASSIVE back patio.

Walk in from the sidewalk and find yerself inside a great bar with lots of interesting crap on the walls and lots of beer to choose from. Then, continue on to the back patio which is crammed full of picnic tables, Octoberfest style. There's a rack to hang atleast a dozen bicycles and of course porta-pottys since we are drinking outside. The beer was good and the atmosphere chill enough to just roll one up, light it and pass it! They also have some slammin' BBQ including veggie options, all grilled outside! yummy! I feel the need to mention the BBQ again. It smells great there



check the crazy elephant with the beer behind pond. 

ps, there's not really more to read! Read more!

Concerning Spelling

Even for a secular Jew like me, this time of year instills thoughts of charity, generosity, and general hot-chocolate-by-roaring-fire good will toward men (and women). But sometimes even a peace-loving man can be so rankled by persistent injustice that the seratonin-augmenting properties of the holiday season fail to quell his righteous anger. So let me just lay it out there: The Capitol [sic] Region Council Of Governments needs to correct the spelling error in its name.

Now, don't get me wrong: I am a huge fan of the CRCOG. They're always working with the CCBA to advance bike-friendly initiatives in our area, and they do lots of other good stuff. I am also a big fan of regionalism generally since, as I have mentioned before, my secret dream is for Connecticut to have county-based school districts. (Will this ever happen? No, it will not.) But damn it all, I am not a fan of writing "Capitol" when you mean "Capital," and I find it unpardonable that this error is perpetuated right there in the organization's name!

You see, a "capitol" is a building where a legislature sits. You know, like that big, gold-domed edifice on Capitol Avenue, pictured above. (No, not Kenny's. That's a bar, and it doesn't even have a dome. Up the street from there, by the park.) A "capital" is the administrative seat of a political subdivision. Many capitals have capitols in them, and Hartford is among these, so I can understand the confusion (CRCOG, by the way, is not the only organization to make this error), but I think that if you want to talk about the towns surrounding the state capital, you want to refer to the Capital Region. (I mean, I guess you could argue that Glastonbury and East Hartford and Avon are in the region of a particular building, but they're equally in the region of Blue Back Square, and I don't see them calling the organization BBSRCOG, you know what I mean?) So what gives?

Well, I don't like to take my petty grievances directly to the internet, so when this problem first came to my attention, I sent CRCOG an e-mail, which I have reproduced below:

To whom it may concern:

Why is it Capitol Region and not Capital Region? Capitol, if I understand correctly, refers to a building where a legislature sits, while capital refers to the administrative seat of a political subdivision. I browsed your website to see if there was an answer, but found nothing. Is it just an oversight not worth correcting, or is there some historical or aesthetic reason CRCOG associates its region with the building rather than the city?

Respectfully, I remain,

Josh Michtom
West Hartford

When I was ten years old, I sent a similarly polite letter to General Mills, taking issue with the slogan of Kix Cereal, "Kid Tested; Mother Approved," because it was sexist, pointing out that I was being raised by my father and my mother had no say in my cereal choices (I am not alone in feeling this way). General Mills didn't change the slogan, but they did send me a very nice letter thanking me for my patronage, claiming to understand my concern, and attempting to persuade me of the acceptability of their slogan on the basis of some inscrutable market polling data. Also, they sent me coupons for two free boxes of any General Mills cereal. TWO FREE BOXES. That my friends, is the tenor of civil discourse I would like to see when I contact an organization to voice linguistic concerns in a friendly way. But not only has CRCOG failed to provide me with coupons of any kind, they have not even dignified my convivial missive with a response!

So what do you have to say for yourself, CRCOG? I want to love you for all the good things you do, but with the slipshod usage in your title you have insulted my intelligence, and with your failure to respond to my e-mail, YOU HAVE INSULTED MY HONOR. Read more!

My First Fixie®

With plenty of help, I recently built my My First Fixie®. El Prez hooked me up with an old Raleigh Pursuit frame (eighties vintage?), complete with fork, headset, stem, two choices of handlebars, front brake calipers, a bottom bracket with a really long spindle, a black water bottle cage, and a glass of rum.

I built the first incarnation of My First Fixie® at Recycle Bicycle in New Britain, side-by-side with the incredibly patient duo of Peter Barr, who is the omniscient boss at Recycle Bicycle, and my sizzlin' girlfriend Kristen. Peter hooked me up with used parts and expertise, and I wowed Recycle Bicyle with a fistful of Hamiltons, baby.

My First Fixie® is now in its second incarnation, with a better fitting bottom bracket, a Sugino track crank, and a 1/8" 48t chainring, all purchased used from a former Philly bike messenger who never wrecked in Philly but recently had a serious accident on a training ride in suburbia. His advice: "Wear your *&^%$#@ helmet!" My First Fixie® now has a 48-17 gear ratio instead of the 53-20 of the first incarnation. I love it! If I get my hands on a camera I'll try to post some pictures. Just keep clicking refresh on your browser and waiting for the pictures. Read more!

Snowmobiles

As promised, there was snow riding on Friday night. Joel valiantly attempted to come, but the bus from Windsor wasn't running (and riding all the way from Windsor was, understandably, a little much). Will un-valiantly decamped to New York for the weekend. Brendan even more un-valiantly went incommunicado all evening. But Rich and I were in it to win it, as is our custom.

The plan was to meet at Chez Rich for a pre-ride fortifier around 9:00, then take to the streets. Owing to some complicating factors, I didn't arrive till 10:15. Complicating Factor #1: My elder son was on some stay-up-late-and-worry-about-monsters ish. Complicating Factor #2: Hartford was on some plow-the-east-west-streets-but-leave-the-north-south-streets-untouched ish. Factor 1 only slowed me down by fifteen minutes, but Factor 2 brought the ruckus. I feel like to took me about half an hour to go from Park to Farmington on Whitney. The Special Tour de France was in full effect, and I really think there's no better mix of speed, toughness, and versatility for most conditions than a 30-year-old three-speed, but I would have needed some Puglsey-type tires to keep it rolling in that cruddy mess.

Anyway, once I reached Rich's deluxe apartment in the sky, we imbibed a bit, talked of serious matters such as women and bike repair (not the combination; we just talked about both of those things), then went out to Bushnell Park. I had the idea to bomb down the hill from the Capitol parking lot toward the band shell, which was theoretically a good idea, but the snow was so very deep that even on that incline, we had to pedal constantly to keep moving. So we decided to find another, steeper hill. After brief consideration, we decided that the downward slope from Park Terrace into Pope Park might do the trick, so we headed that way.

It was nice riding across town with the roads pretty much to ourselves. Lots of people were out and about, shovelling, commenting on the absurdity of riding bikes (one guy standing in front of a bodega offered this grammatically ponderous but perfectly intelligle interjection: "On bikes?!!"), and you know, walking through snow. We passed a car dealership on Sisson where all the cars had been turned on and most of them had their headlights on. The logical explanation for this might be that the proprietor wanted to warm up all the cars to melt the snow and ice on them so they would look sharp for the next day's shoppers (because what better thing to do when your car is stuck in a snowbank than go buy a new one in Frog Hollow?). Some other explanations I like more: (1) The proprietor dropped a contact lens somewhere on the lot and turned on all the headlights to look for it; (2) We happened to witnessing a well-planned, multi-vehicle theft, á la Gone in Sixty Seconds.

Eventually, we reached Pope Park. After some surveying, we chose a spot that seemed likely to provide the steepest slope. It started with a moderate, rolling hill, crossed a path, then went down a very steep slope with some low, sparse bushes. It was fun, in the sense that the bikes actually kept moving despite the deep snow, but I couldn't stick the landing - I crashed over and over again at the bottom. Snow is good for falling down. Rich managed not to crash, but in the process couldn't keep enough momentum to maintain forward motion.

Then we set our sights on the large hill on the west side of the park, next to the highway. In hindsight, this was a bad choice, because reaching the summit involved considerable slogging, and the descent failed to satisfy. (I never noticed how flat Hartford it. It is very flat.) There were also snowmobilesmachines (thanks, Todd Palin!) in the park. That looked like fun, except for, like, the 48 weeks of the year when there's not that much snow on the ground and you have to devote some large portion of your home to storing a $5000, gas-guzzling, pony-sized item. (That's why I sold my diesel-powered pony, by the way.) Anyway, after that, we gave up and went to our respective homes, because we were tired and sweaty, and the snow was just too damned deep.

All of that said, I strongly recommend riding bikes in the snow. It is good exercise, it allows you to see beauty (because no matter how ugly a place, when you blanket it in snow, it looks nice), and while the risk of losing control of the vehicle is at least as high on two wheels as on four, the risks to self and others are appreciably lower. Also, you don't so often get stuck in a ditch. Read more!

Favorite Ads: Alternative Fuels

Ride on, patriot.

Today's snow event makes this the ideal time to post this. If the ad embedded below isn't my most favorite commercial of all-time, it's certainly on the short list. The calm serenity and silence of the falling snow. The look of gruff, self-satisfied, determination on the face of our protagonist. The stark blue-gray colors of the scene. The tone of extreme masculine admiration by the voice-over. And of course, the constant tink-tink-tinking of the worthy cargo. This ad is wonderful.

Apparently this whole campaign for the Champagne of Beer was done by Errol Morris. I think it's a requirement whenever you blog about any of these ads to mention that, despite me not knowing exactly who that is. But his wikipedia page shows he's somebody impressive. Here's a page with links to all the other ads from that campaign.



Click here, if having your video embedded isn't your thing. Read more!

Dashing through the snow...

He's not riding the wrong way. This photo is from the BBC.

When you take drivers ed in the snow belt regions of the northeast, you receive a wonderfully fun assignment: take a car out to an empty, snow-covered parking lot somewhere (away from any light poles) and throw the car into skids, slides, and spins. Do whatever you can: jam the steering wheel hard one direction, yank on the emergency brake...whatever. The instructor told us to do this because it's the only real way to learn how to control a car skidding in the snow. (Later in life, I used these skills to scare the crap out of a San Diego native who was experiencing his first Rochester winter).

Today, Connecticut is getting it's first snowstorm of the season. Around 1 pm or so, the snow started falling in the 'Beat, and we're getting about 1 inch per hour. All my coworkers scurried out to their cars to get home before it started piling up. While I left the option to throw my bike on a CT Transit bus open, I was really excited because this was the first chance I've really had to do a commute on more than a dusting of snow.

The Breezer was ready, except for not having any good knobby or studded tires. They're still pretty thick, so I had faith they would be adequate. I locked up the office at 3:00 and started down the incline from my parking lot. That lasted a whole 3 seconds before I took my spill, half-laughing. Right. Watch it on the hills. I spent the first couple of blocks working trying to get a feel for the technique and riding style I would need to get home. And that's pretty much when I remembered my lessons from drivers ed. You can think you know how to ride in snow, but it isn't until you force yourself to lose control when you really learn how to pull out of it and how to avoid doing so in the first place. By the end of my office park, I felt very comfortable with the skidding.

A couple of observations ala Larry King:

I found that my snow driving skillz translate very well to the bike: no sudden changes, countersteering, pumping the brakes....I would've thought that riding in car tire grooves would be preferable, but no...the fresh snow on the shoulder is the way to go. A couple of times I had to play the game "Oh! That's where the curb is." My black winter clothing in general isn't as visible in clear weather as it should be. But in a snowstorm? It's the most visible thing out there....Kids in East Hartford have terrible snowball aim. Missed me, punks! And I wasn't even going very fast....A set of goggles would've been handy. That's a wet snow out there, and my face got soaked....I saw more plows on empty residential streets than I did on the semi-major thoroughfares like Burnside Ave or Main St....Bunny hopping under bridges to knock the snow temporarily off of fenders, brakes, and you is pretty freaking fun. Going down hills that are normally fun is still fun in the snow, just more in a "I hope I don't die" kind of fun....From the Founders Bridge, the only reason I could see the Convention Center was because of the lights on the building. Couldn't even begin to make out where the Colt onion dome was....Hey, there are traffic cones set up on a bridge on Constitution Plaza, I think to mark and keep the drainage areas clear. I dare anyone to ride past them and not slalom!...The snow piling up and freezing in my helmet's vent holes makes for a very humorous version of helmet hair. Read more!

How Your Sausage Gets Made

Our three regular readers have come to expect a high caliber of content here at the Beat Bike Blog. Because a blog isn't just a bunch of words and typos occupying no physical space and ignored by everyone. No, my friends, a blog is the product of bloggers. Yes, it's true. This internet magic is the work of real, flesh-and-blood nerds who pour their souls into the thankless endeavor of making your interweb-surfing experience just a little bit better. We craft our posts, we confer about matters of style and policy, and we plan exciting bicycle adventures and report on them so you don't have to.

But how does it happen? you ask. How does this crack team of cycling enthusiasts chart a course for two-wheeled high-living such as might yield posts like this or this? Why not take a peek into the process, and perhaps learn something about consensus-building, friendship, and America? Why not, indeed:

Brendan: ride home [from midnight reservoir ride] was cold
Chillwill: cold? my elf outfit from the paerty kept me toasty!
Joel: Cold? Yes. But I'm a hot and sweaty bastard! Windsor is boring!
Brendan: We ought to do this again. Maybe start slightly earlier.
El Prez: Maybe in the snow.
Brendan: Maybe in the danger.
Rich: Maybe in your mom.
Brendan I don't think that I like the tone of that.
El Prez: Considering her predilection for indiscriminate and frequent sexual congress with all manner of dubious characters (many of them paying customers), I think it would be fair to say that "Maybe in danger" and "Maybe in your mom" are substantially equivalent.
El Prez: Much snow is predicted. Should we take to the streets, two-wheel style?
Brendan: Is it predicted for tonight or tomorrow morning?
I was thinking about doing some after work mountain biking.
El Prez: Right you are. So how about tomorrow night? 9:oo p.m.
Brendan: depends on the salt on the road. I don't want my fancy components to seize
El Prez: So ride a less fancy bike. Duh.
Brendan: ???
El Prez: Does that mean that fancy is the only way your ride?
El Prez: (Also, clearly no one else is on e-mail but us, so we're carrying on this dialogue for our own amusement and no one else's)
Rich: No, I'm amused in my rapidly emptying office.
Also, I'm planning on going to Boston tomorrow night.
El Prez: Probably to protect your fancy components.
Pussy.
Rich: My components are so fancy they are hermetically sealed from all non-fancy elements, and when I say "components," I'm really talking about deez nutz.
People like Ken are gonna be pissed when they check email.
El Prez: See attached image.

Read more!

Horsey Horse

Horses are weird.

I try not to let my job and this blog overlap very much, but sometimes, I think this place is a good sounding board. Beat Bike Bloggers and their affiliates often find themselves in Keney Park. So, this is probably of interest.

There has been discussion for a long time (since the mid 1990s) about the development of an equestrian center in the northern part of Keney, specifically near the Barbour street entrance, a wooded area. It would be around two hundred acres (slightly less than one third of the park). I'm not going to express my opinion here, but I'd like to know what others think of this plan. What is the role of a 19th century, woodsy, and at times underutilized park at the beginning of the 21st century? Are the present Greater Hartford equestrian centers inadequate? Should parks be retrofitted as economic development drivers?

There's a meeting tonight of the Public Works, Parks, and Environment committee at 5:30 in the Council Chambers at City Hall to discuss this. The plans and more information will be available there. Maybe you should stop by. Read more!

Chance for the Beat to shine!

check this out:

http://www.greenlightride.com/

got the link from the great ones who run bikehacks.com

what do you guys say, should we set up a team and get into one of these leagues? lets see how many miles we can rack up! Read more!

Mud and cowbells! Mud and cowries!

Photo credit to *Denise* on Flickr.

I resurrected the old Stumpjumper for a ride at the Reservoir last night. The surprisingly warm mid-December temperatures definitely invited it. Even the drizzle/mist for the first half of the ride wasn't too bad (though it made my pants kind of heavy (I don't know why I decided to wear pants)), and, unlike usual humid rides, the top of mountain wasn't in a cloud. The falling mist and the unfrozen ground made for a greasy ride, but no crashes. Someday, I hope someone joins me on one of these. It's like that ride we took on Saturday, but triply exciting.

Photo credit to Johanna, who's the best girlfriend in the world for accompanying me to Dayville for this race and taking pictures of me.
There are some other reasons, too.

I think the Danielson Adventure Sports' Beer Cross thing was great. I did two of the three races. Since I'm not very fast, I never did that well, but had a great time. They're very low key, but have a nice course and everyone is friendly. They also don't have horrible music blasting the entire time like most races.

At this last race, I think I did ok. I started slightly better than usual and was just off the leaders. However, since they're the leaders and are fast, I never saw them again except off in the distance when the course opened up. Like in most races, I found myself in no man's land. Significantly behind the leaders, but also significantly ahead of some other group. At point, some really fast guy caught up to me and passed me at a great rate of speed. It was impressive. Later, with two laps to go, this other guy caught up to me after I had made silly mistakes. It was pretty exciting, we exchanged positions a few times. I finally passed him with about a half lap to go and was holding him off pretty well. My brakes weren't going to have any of that success though, and with about 500 yards left, they quit at the bottom of a hill and I crashed into a bunch trees. The guy, who's actually pictured above, passed me and I never caught back up.

Also, pictured up there is the horrible labyrinth they decided the course needed. Over all it was a quick course and then all of a sudden there was this terrible and muddy thing that I could never get through with any amount of speed. Ugh! It was totally unnecessary.

Now that the 'cross season is over, I must say, it's way more fun than mountain bike racing. Maybe it's the bigger field, maybe it's the more laps, maybe it's the barriers; but I feel like there's a lot more happening. However, riding a 'cross bike is a lot less fun than mountain biking. Maybe I should Read more!

LULULEMON

i was in brooklyn over the weekend and exchanged christmas gifts with one of my oldest friends. actually, with this gift he has pretty much been elevated beyond deity status.

i am always hunting for clothes that will be comfortable on the bike and not require a change on arrival for work, going out, whatever. in short, dress clothes that are comfy for riding. of course they can't cost an arm and a leg either...

enter: http://lululemon.com/ you guys should check out their stuff. my friend got me a pair of the Endeavor PNT II pants and they are awesome. hidden leg vents to let the sweat out, stretchy fabric, cut to fit someone with, as they put it, "hockey butt" and a 37" inseam!!! they look dressy enough for work too. plus i understand if you ask they will cut you a deal on alterations in case you don't need the whole 37.... i do, and its tough to find any pants that long so this is awesome!

if i could just jet around in their pants all the time, i would, if any of you from lulu are reading, i am available for sponsorship..............

anyway, this comes with just a couple ordering days before christmas if any of you can convince your loved ones!! Read more!

Moonlight Magic!

Two nights ago I had to run to the bank at about 10:00 at night. The moon was full, the air was crisp and clear, and it was truly a joy to be alive and on two wheels, as I indulged my recent hobby of seeking out as many mid-block shortcuts as possible between my house and West Hartford center. It was fun, it was muddy, and the only thing missing was the BBB crew, so yesterday, I got on the intertubes and sent the word out: Tonight, we ride!

As it happened, Chillwill had a party to attend in West Hartford, and Lucas was celebrating his special lady's birthday at the Spigot, so the stars aligned: A couple of folks swung by the spigot, a couple of folks came straight over, and by 10:30, Joel, Will, Brendan, Rich, and I were at la Casa Presidencial, having consumed a beer, some wine, and a slice of pumpkin pie a piece. Properly fortified against the late Fall chill, we embarked.

We started with my favorite shortcut: Behind Sedgwick Middle School on Sedgwick Road in W.H., there is a very steep, short hill that leads down to some soccer fields. Then at the far corner of the soccer fields, there is a shaded alley that leads through to the next street. Truthfully, there is no better time to traverse this than a freezing, moonlit night: The muddy field is crunchy, the bright sky makes it (fairly) easy to see and avoid random benches (of which there are a few), and, well, it's fun and pretty. I think only Joel wiped out going down the hill.

After emerging on Lemay Street, we went over to Farmington Ave., then jogged over to Pleasant Street so we could cut north through Fernridge Park and take Fern west. Fernridge Park at night, by the way, was great. There were big, swampy, frozen puddles that crunched and crackled delightfully underwheel.

When Fern crosses Mountain Road, it turns into Hunter Drive, which is important because the name change is a signal to those in the know that the street is changing from a place where you'd like to have a nice bike ride on a cold night after a few beers to a place where there is a big-ass hill that makes you sweat too much for your warm clothing and wonder why the hell you signed up for this goddamn route. But it's all good. We got to the top of the hill and went into the reservoir.

Inside the reservoir trails it was really quiet and nice, but there were lots of icy patches, which Joel graciously found by wiping out on them. We looped here and there before stopping beside the reservoir and throwing pebbles along its thinly iced surface, making strange, skittering noises as the ice groaned and shifted. It sounded more or less like morse code messages tapped out on a high-tension bridge-suspension cable, but with Will and me making mom jokes in the background. In short, nature's majesty at its finest.

After a healthy dose of nature contemplation (including many shooting stars!), we headed out to Canal Road, which is a bike path, that runs parallel to Mountain road about a half-mile up the mountain. Presumably, it used to have a canal of the sort one might use for moving barges full of beaver pelts or something, but now it has a tiny little canal, suitable only for moving twelve-packs or medium-sized cats on barges to all points inland. Brendan left us at this point, but we soldiered on to Slider's party.

Amazingly, when we arrived at midnight the party was basically over but for a few stragglers. There was a guy there who saw my Brooklyn sweatshirt and asked if I was from Brooklyn. When I said yes, he said, "Well fuckety fuck fuck," which I thought was an allusion to Brooklynites' famous propensity for profanity. It turns out he just likes to say "fuckety fuck fuck," because he said it again and again while we nursed beers by the fire. He sometimes also addressed people as "Dick Dog." There were also other people there, though none quite as amusing. Also, cookies. We stayed till 2:30. That is all. Read more!

NORAD Tracking Santa

Ho ho ho!

As you may know, NORAD tracks Santa. I was watching their video of Santa flying and was surprised to see him take off from a small island that was entirely surrounded by water. Santa lives at the North Pole, isn't that supposed to be frozen in the winter? (or all year) I emailed them with my concerns and all I got was this:

Thank you for emailing NORAD.

All of us here at NORAD are programming our satellites, calibrating
our radar systems, testing our Santa Cams, and flying training
missions in our jet fighters in preparation for Santa's 2008 flight.
Unfortunately, that leaves us little time to answer emails personally.

Please email us again on December 24th when a NORAD Santa Tracker will
be available to respond.

Happy tracking!
--
Warm Regards,
The NORAD Tracks Santa Team

This is even more distressing! Everyone at NORAD is getting ready to track Santa? Our skies aren't safe! Read more!